Enchanting Absinthe (Sex with Strings, Book Four) by Shona Husk Page A

touched her empty ring finger.
    “There isn’t. I refused to marry for genetics.”
    He smiled. “Of course you would.”
    She bit her lip. “There’s something you should know. I tried to get my duty to the Council done when I was eighteen so I could get on with my life.” Straight out of school and keen to get it over and done with. Her voice betrayed her when she continued, “Five days. He lived for five days. Two more and he would have counted.”
    There had been a Shaman family willing to adopt and then she could get back to her life, everything had all seemed so perfect. Her throat tightened. It was her fault. She’d never wanted the baby and somehow he’d known. This time would be different. Her hand slid over her stomach. She wanted this baby, but would William?
    “I saw the marks.” He glanced at her stomach, then back at her face. “Why are you telling me?”
    “Because I did something without thinking it through and the Council isn’t happy, my parents aren’t happy and I don’t think you’re going to be happy either. I didn’t mean to bind up your magic. That was an accident.”
    “The baby is mine?” He took a step back as if she’d pushed him. That wasn’t quite the reaction she’d hoped for. “How did that even happen?”
    “Sex…” she took a breath. “And a bit of magic.”
    “You used magic to get pregnant? What were you hoping for, a giant payout?”
    Tears stung her eyes as she shook her head. “When I realized you were part Shaman, I thought I could trick the Council and have the baby they require my way. I thought it would be nice to have your child. I never thought I’d be telling you this.”
    He rubbed his forehead as if trying to clear the vision of the third eye he didn’t have. He couldn’t see magic because he lacked the eye, but he could feel it.
    “I’m not sure what is worse, that you magically made a baby without telling me or that you had no intention of telling me and were going to raise it on your own. I have never had any children. You would deny me the right to know this one?”
    “The baby is Shaman, not Vampire. Since you hate Shamen I didn’t think you’d care too much.”
    He turned away and walked across the room. He ran both hands through his hair. “Fuck.”
    “The Council doesn’t know who the father is.” Again she wasn’t sure if that made it better or worse. Maybe better, since he was the baby who had started the Ferrara ruling in the first place.
    He spun back to face her. “You had no right.”
    “I know, it was a rash decision made in the heat of the moment. It wasn’t planned. All I wanted that night was one night of freedom before I fell into line. Now I’m facing expulsion if they ever find out.”
    “Breaking the bond will hurt the baby,” he said as if he understood magic perfectly.
    She nodded. “I will not lose another child.”
    William pressed his lips together and said nothing. The urge to turn him into a pile of bright green sludge coursed through her. Her fingers hummed with magic. Claire counted to three and picked up the keys. Even as sludge, they would still be connected.
    “Well, Mr. Black, if you aren’t interested, I’ll lock up.”
    “Let me think on it. There’s a lot to consider.” Tension made his words clipped. And Claire knew he wasn’t talking about the house.

Chapter Five
     
    William got off the plane feeling less human than usual. Flying halfway across the globe and back again in five days, and performing in between, had left him feeling somewhere between psychotic-blood-deprived-Vampire and wanting to drop into a coma and sleep for a week. The next person who didn’t have their travel documents, and shit together in general, was going to find out Vampires really did exist in the worst possible way.
    Worse, he couldn’t walk past a newsstand without seeing the breakup of Lucinda’sLover mentioned. He slung his overnight bag over his shoulder and pushed through the throng of people